Marked

Chapter 2. Take Me Home

♡...Lunae...♡

~~~~~~~~~~~

“... Werewolves…”

“… Marked…”

“...Alpha…”

…Crack*

…Crack*

…Crack*

“I didn't know it would work…”

“... Do you trust me?”

“... the Head Master will see you now…”

“Blue moon…”

“... Blue moon…”

“... Blue…”

“... Moon…”

"...The attack severed your mother almost in two, and you were already bleeding too much. You were barely breathing, so I looked up to the moon and prayed for a miracle, and then… I… I bit you. I surrendered my wolf to you… so that you could live."

"...Never did I imagine seeing you again… as my grandson's mate nonetheless!”

**************

When I first opened my eyes, I couldn’t help but smile. I always felt safe in his arms.

Safe?

But then I remember the roaring.

The growling.

The bones cracking…

And my instinct is flight. I gasp, and he opens his eyes, and I sprint from the bed, unable to speak.

"Loo…?"

I hear him say my name, and he sounds like my Ashton, but in the back of my head, I can still hear the roars… I shake my head and glance at the door.

His eyes. I will never forget his eyes.

"Lunae… please." I want to go to him. I want to comfort him… but he isn't him anymore, so I shake my head again.

I watch his face twist and his eyes flicker, and I instantly close my eyes as tightly as possible. Afraid that the beast will come back out and swallow me whole. "Please… I want to go home." I say with my eyes still closed. I can't look at him. I don't want to look at him.

"Can I please explain?"

This time, his voice is close… I can tell he is no longer on the bed, and I'm scared. I try to stay calm. I try to act as if my boyfriend was unchanged, like my relationship was unaffected, but no.

And I wasn't just scared. I was angry, too. I could feel myself shaking, trying not to have an outburst, but then I figured he literally burst out of his skin! And then I lost it. "TAKE ME HOME!... NOW!"

"Ok." He said softly. I finally opened my eyes, hearing his words of defeat. "If that's what you want." And then I looked at him.

I shouldn't have looked at him.

I shouldn't have found those deep, icy, sad, blue eyes so forgivable, but for a moment, I did. Those eyes reminded me of all the good times that we had had. Those eyes wanted me to forget how hurt I was about what I had discovered.

Without thinking about what was happening, I raised my arms around his neck and leaned into him. I cried silently, letting waves of sorrow soak the front of his shirt. Soon enough, he wrapped his arms around me, completing the hug, and I allowed the emotion to shake. Silent cries turned into loud waterfalls rushing from my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said through each shudder.

"I'm sorry…" his voice broke, but he didn't let me go. And I knew I should want him to... but I don't.

I wasn't sure what I was gonna do with everything I had just learned, but I did know that it wasn't enough. If I was gonna choose between staying and going, I needed to know every last detail. And I didn't know if it would help, but at least I would know… you know?

**********

We walked back down the long corridor heading towards his grandfather's office, only this time, we weren't holding hands, and I wasn't as fascinated with the decor.

Again, the door was closed.

Ashton knocked on the door before opening it, "Alpha… she's ready." He sounded so sure about it. About me being ready. But how could one be ready for their life's possible derailment?

Mr. Crestly stood from behind his desk and motioned for us to come inside. Ashton stepped in first and then attempted to hold my hand, but I flinched, and he quickly pulled his hand back. He walked over to one of the oversized mahogany wood chairs and pulled out for me, but I ignored it and pulled out the other one for myself. His eyes flickered again, but he didn't say anything.

I sat down and played with my fingers, unable to speak. Afraid of the answers to the questions I needed to ask. Not knowing which questions I needed to ask.

"Why don't I just start from the beginning?” Mr. Crestly spoke, and I looked up at him and then to Ashton, wondering if I should speak at all.

Ashton nodded, and I took it as a sign that I could speak freely. "Wait…"

I took a deep breath.

"Before… you said I was Ashton's mate…" I could feel his eyes on me, but I would not face him, "what does that mean?” And then, the two of them exchanged a look amongst themselves, and I didn't know if I had asked the right question.

"Ahh… a mate. The most beautiful bond between two souls." His eyes softened as he spoke. "I guess for humans… they would be called soulmates."

"I am human… so-" ...So how the hell was I a werewolf's mate? That's what I wanted to say, but of course, I didn't.

"You really have no idea how special you are, child?" He called me a child, and I wanted to defend myself. I was nearly 20 years old.

However, right now, I felt like I was back in second grade, getting picked last to play kickball. "The night I saved will never leave my memories. And not just because of you… it was the moon. That night, the moon was full. It was both dark and light simultaneously, and not a single cloud was in the sky. You see, you were born on the night of the rare blue moon."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, the thing is, the only way we can be mated to a human is if that human was born…" he began.

"... During the blue moon…" I finished.

"Yes. You see, when I prayed for the miracle that night… I wasn't thinking. It didn't occur to me until the next morning what I had done. And even then, I wasn't concerned because I wasn't sure that you would even live."

"But I did."

"Yes. Though even still… Since our time began, there have only been a handful of human mates… you, my child, are truly blessed... Being a mate causes one to yearn only for their other half. Being without them can cause physical pain for us… and, in rare cases, death. And while the mate bond can be rejected, it is a cruel experience for both mates… It's a beautiful curse, the mate bond. But it's not permanent until both mates have accepted and then…" He paused, and I was fearful of what would come next. "... consummated the mating process."

Tears stung in the corners of my throat, but I willed them to stay in place. "When did you know?" I turned to Ashton, and he tightened his jaw. "When did you know I was your mate?"

"Loo… please."

"I want to know when.” I needed to know. I needed to know that the young boy who smiled at me on the first day of school did not only do so because of his destiny. I needed to know that all of the sweet nothings he had whispered to me over the years were words of his own. I needed to know that even without this mate bond…

He would still love me.

"We don't find our mates until after our first transition. I knew who you were two days after my 17th birthday." He gulped, waiting for my response.

I wanted to cry even more now, but I didn't. That means I was 15… we started dating the following year. It's been five years of lies. I did feel some relief knowing that he didn't realize during that first assignment. I was young, and he was the only friend I had. Still, I didn't tell him that.

"Why did she attack us," I turned, addressing Mr. Crestly again and thoroughly ignoring Ashton as he got up and left the room.

And I sat there for hours talking to the Alpha, coming to terms with werewolfism and how it played a part in my being an orphan.

Apparently, the full moon after a wolf's mate passes is a very trying time for them.

Apparently, some of them are so mad that they slaughter entire towns.

Apparently, when her husband was killed in a simple training exercise, she couldn't handle it. Hence, she surrendered to her wolf and became void of a human soul and any human emotions that came with it and decided my family didn't deserve to live if her husband had to die.

Go figure.

She was mourning the loss of her mate… and now I was denying mine.

"When I finally tracked her down, she had already done her damage… I had no choice but to put her down, and that's what I did." So he killed his daughter because she killed my family… yet he saved me.

"You said you surrendered your wolf to me… does that mean… does that mean I will be a werewolf too… like because you bit me?"

"No." He laughed at my question. "I surrendered my wolf so that your healing would accelerate… but that's all." He looked down at his desk and then looked back up at me. "I'm pleased to see that it worked."

"How do I give it back…"

He sighed, "My dear… once one loses his wolf… one does not get it back."

And then I was sad. Here he was, a man without his wolf. And there I was, the girl who took it. The girl who didn't want it. The girl… who didn't feel worthy of it.

He didn't kill my family. His daughter did. He had suffered a loss, too… and still decided I was worth saving.

I wonder if this is what it feels like for people whose loved ones have their organs donated. I wondered if my mother's heart was out there giving someone else life… how would I reach it? I wondered why every time I was near Alpha Crestly, my scar throbbed… but I had already asked enough questions. I already had enough answers.

But then he answered one that I hadn't thought of. "You won't turn until Ashton marks you if he marks you."

If he marks me.

I will only turn into a wolf, if I let Ashton... bite me.

If I let him mark me.

One last question fluttered in my head. Is my love for Ashton worth throwing away the life that I have lived?

The only problem was I had asked myself that question... but I didn't have an answer for it.

**********

♤...Ashton...♤

"When did you know?" She looked right into my eyes and sent a shutter to my soul. "When did you know I was your mate?"

"Loo… please." Out of all of the questions she could have asked… this just had to be the first. I could tell her the truth that it didn't matter to me whether we were destined or not. I had decided the day that I met her that she was mine. Mate bond be damned.

"When?" She asked again.

Somehow I knew that no matter what I said, it wouldn't be the correct answer. I knew that I loved her that first day. I didn't realize we were mates for sure until later, but I felt the pull from the very beginning.

I remember going home and telling Maxine about the new girl in school and how she was the most enchanting thing I had ever encountered. She laughed and patted me on the head, saying how I was getting my first dose of puppy love. "Wait until you find your mate, young Master." She would tell me each time I brought Lunae up.

"We don't find our mates until after our first transition. I knew who you were when I returned to school two days after my 17th birthday." I gulped hard, seeing the reaction on her face. The tears that she suppressed glistened within the corners of her eyes. "Say something…" my wolf pleaded to our mate even though he knew she couldn't hear him.

"Why did she attack us?" My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach as she turned to speak to my grandfather again, completely dismissing my answer. Worried about what else she would ask, I quickly got up and left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Together.

I walked back to my room and fell into the bed. I knew having a human mate would be a challenge, but I was beginning to feel hopeless. "Why didn't you tell her about the initial pull?" I questioned myself. "How could you just leave her alone?" Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"SHUT UP!" I growled and spoke out loud, and then there was a knock on the door, which caused my other half to burrow into the reaches of my mind.

"Young Master Crestly, will you and the lovely Miss Lunae be joining us for dinner tonight?" She spoke after opening the door.

"I… I don't know, Max." I sat in and buried my head in my hands. "I just… I don't know." It had been a while since I had allowed myself to show defeat in front of a pack member, but at that moment, I no longer cared.

"Ahh… I see… matters of the heart can be confusing for any mated pair… especially when one is human."

She would know. "How did you do it? I mean, when you found out… what did you think?"

"Well… my situation is unlike many," she began. "I was young, fresh out of school, and I loved my high school sweetheart. We were engaged to be married when I was diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer. My fiance said he loved me, but he was from a large family… and the easiest way to prevent my already terminal cancer from spreading was to do a surgery that would completely sterilize me."

She walked over and sat with me on the bed, allowing me to rest my head against her shoulder. "So he left, and I didn't blame him. I couldn't imagine him being there with me, knowing I could never give him the life he wanted. How could I marry him knowing that I would die soon after? Once he was gone… I didn't care much about living anymore. I figured no man would ever want a barren woman. So why fight? I let the illness take me. My hair fell out. My skin was as thin as paper. I was in so much pain…"

The entire time she spoke, she did so with a steadily solemn voice until she reached the turn of her story, and I could hear her voice swell with joy. "... until one day, a handsome first year resident decided to volunteer at my cancer center."

I smiled, hearing her speak about him. "Something about him… he walked in and introduced himself. And then he told me that the wig I was wearing made my face look fat! And you know what? I laughed. I laughed for the first time in months, and then I pulled that wig off without a second thought. Each day, he would come back and tell me stories about all kinds of things, trying to keep my mind off of the treatments that I didn't even know why I was still taking. I started looking forward to his visits, and then one day, they just stopped. He just…" She took a deep breath, getting caught up in the memory before she continued. "I asked around to see if anyone had any information on him, but they didn't. So, once again, I gave up. I closed my eyes one night and figured that was it. I no longer had the strength nor the will to keep going. But then I woke up the next morning, and I was no longer in any pain. I wasn't nauseous… I- I couldn't explain it, and the doctors couldn't either. I was deemed a medical miracle!"

Again, she smiled. ``I was getting dressed to go home, which at that moment meant nothing because I had not had a home for months. But I took off my gown and noticed this strange scar," she ran her fingers over the spot where the mark rested. "I figured it was from one of the treatments… It was a nasty looking thing, but I had had so many procedures that it could have been from any of them. I never paid it any mind. I left the center and went back to my old home only to find my ex-fiance there with his new family."

I don't think I would have been able to endure seeing Lunae with anyone else, but Max laughed while she told this part of the story. "He invited me in, and I sat there and talked with his wife and their children, and my heart swelled with a happiness I didn't expect to have. When my ex told me about the joint account that we had created to fund our wedding… I was shocked. He had not touched a cent. He said that the money was for his first love, and even if I were gone… no one else would have deserved it. I said my goodbyes and walked back out of his life to start a new one of my own."

I knew that she was strong. But I never knew just how strong she was. "I bought a small cottage not too far from here… not sure why I was drawn to this place at all. But then, two weeks later, I got a knock on my front door, and there he was… my missing resident. He had tears in his eyes, and I don't know how… I just knew. So I grabbed him and kissed him, and there was this feeling, this strangely wonderful feeling, all over my body. It was the most exhilarating thing I had ever felt. When he explained to me what had happened, I wasn't scared… I had just been brought back to life by a man who was destined to love me forever… What more could I want?”

And that was the problem.

Technically, Lunae already has a mark. She doesn't feel it when the sparks fly. "Listen. All you need to do is make her realize that you loved her before… let her know when she first enchanted you that you were just as clueless as she is now and that you will spend as much time as she needs to understand the bond, to accept the bond, and to reciprocate it."

She squeezed my knee and stood back up to leave the room.

"Thank you." And then she winked before walking out the door and closing it behind her.

I was afraid that if Loo knew that I felt something for her from the first day, it would only drive the wedge further, but maybe Maxine was right. Perhaps I just needed to enchant her like she enchanted me.

And come hell or high water, that is what I was going to do.